The Civil Rights Game
by edwzipper on Thursday, March 8th, 2007 at 09:09am
Once again, standing ovation to baseball for taking a good idea and fucking it up. Unreal how consistently the Bud Selig-led league almost always steps precisely and with force into shit.
The idea? A game in Memphis to celebrate baseball’s civil rights pioneers. Makes sense, great AAA park in Memphis, Civil Rights museum, the Dr. King legacy, all of that. Sounds like a good thought. Sign ESPN up. Televise the exibition game just ahead of the start of the season. Let the good publicity flow.
The problem? MLB invited the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cleveland Indians. Of the Chief Wahoo Indians. To a city that was on the Trail of Tears. With people in and near Memphis that are ancestors of that particular genocidal event. To a game that is supposed to commenorate one race’s struggle for equality and acceptance. With a team that sports, to a good chunk of the people that matter, a logo and name that are inherently offensive.
Filip Bondy has a particularly good read this morning in the NY Daily News on the issues that have arisen as a result of baseball’s decision to bring Cleveland to the game, including a tacit admission from the game’s overlords that on some level they understand it is kinda wrong as the Indians and Cardinals will sport uniforms with no logos for the game. No pesky Cardinal. No Chief Wahoo. Guess that makes Cleveland’s continuing use of that logo OK…